What is advanced timing?

[Dan_Henderson]

I've been reading online about tuning the n/a and I've read a few people advance the timing by 4 degrees, how is this done,what does it do and how would my engine benefit?

Thanks guys/girls

[starletburkie]

Will spark before piston is at top dead centre, will make more power but also more stress on the engine especially if theres det/pinging.

Edited February 28, 2013 by starletburkie

[Weyro]

its done by rotating the distributer, as far as in aware.

[Matt1878]

its done by rotating the distributer, as far as in aware.[/quote

This..

It's done by advancing or retarding the dizzy..

Advancing will increase bhp but put more strain on the engine.

Retarding is the same however this will improve bottom end power (torque).

I did a little on a MK1 escort rally car with pinto engine yesterday. Managed to increase power from 168bhp to 181bhp by advancing.

Recommend was 33 degrees at 5000rpm. By setting it at 35 degrees we got noticeable change.

It did increase the top end power... however torque dropped slightly.

Each have their pros and cons.

Advance = more power, less torque

Retard = more torque, less power.

Be careful though as too much rotation either way can cause big internal damage.

Get someone who knows what their talking about to set it up wouldn't recommend playing around twisting your dizzy

Hope this helps.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Matt1878

[starletburkie]

You need a timin light before ya go changing it

[AdamB]

Some engines respond well to advancing the base static ignition timing, some don't. The car will need to be checked with det cans to ensure the engines isn't knocking throughout the rev range from advancing the timing. If this is the case you could fit an adjustable cam pulley and retard the valve timing slightly to reduce cylinder pressure. Having the maximum amount of ignition timing possible improves the driving and increases mpg slightly, not that its very noticeable.

[Matt1878]

You need a timin light before ya go changing it

Forgot to mention this...

Very Important haha!

[Dan_Henderson]

What sort of power gains would I expect from 4 degrees?

[Matt1878]

What sort of power gains would I expect from 4 degrees?

Can't really predict this mate.. All down to health of engine etc. Wouldn't just go and do 4 degrees. I'd go a degree at a time Untill it looses power. Then you know what your maximum range is.

[Dan_Henderson]

Wouldn't I need a rolling road to do this?

[Matt1878]

Yes.. Would need to be set up properly.. Not something you can do on your driveway .. Tbh., in a 4efe I don't think the gains would be that big ..

Thinking back to yesterday .. We were on a fully rally spec mk1 escort and we got 13 extra bhp.

[rmsnoel]

Ive mine advanced 12 degrees BTDC on the base timing instead of 10degrees dan with no noticeable difference. I'll go to 4 degrees on friday and let you know how I get on. I have a timing light and a fair bit of experience with the 4efe. I'll say this though, if there were gains to be had we would all have done it years ago.. Disconnect your battery over night to reset the ecu so it 'learns' again.

[shorty]

Idealy yep. Any form of fueling/ignition or mapping should be done with as much equipment as posable to aid the process

[rmsnoel]

We talk about timing in degrees of engine rotation. Your sparkplugs spark at whatever degrees before the piston reachs the top. Like yer man says we can then advance this alittle more or retard it alittle less. When I talk about base timing its when setting timing by adjusting the distributor. After this the engine adjusts it back and fourth by its self. My base timing is 12degrees but the ecu runs it at say 25-30degrees when Im revving it. Thats why the escort guy was at 33degrees at 5000rpm but his base timing would be set at say 10-15degrees.

Buy a haynes manual for a 1993-1997 corolla, youll love it

[Frankieflowers]

On 2/28/2013 at 11:04 PM, rmsnoel said:

We talk about timing in degrees of engine rotation. Your sparkplugs spark at whatever degrees before the piston reachs the top. Like yer man says we can then advance this alittle more or retard it alittle less. When I talk about base timing its when setting timing by adjusting the distributor. After this the engine adjusts it back and fourth by its self. My base timing is 12degrees but the ecu runs it at say 25-30degrees when Im revving it. Thats why the escort guy was at 33degrees at 5000rpm but his base timing would be set at say 10-15degrees.

 

 

 

 

Buy a haynes manual for a 1993-1997 corolla, youll love it

 

I am experiencing something weird. I had to take my cylinder head off to get welded because of a small crack and ever since I put it back it didn’t react normal. Everything is set as specifics. First time we tried the timing in the diagnostic mode we put it at 10° and without diagnostic mode it would go down to zero. After we took the cylinder head off again to set shims the timing changed. Set at 10° in diagnostic mode would raise to 15° without the bridge. What could have changed? Thank you. 

[Sam44]

Have you double checked your crank to cam timing is correct (cam belt) also the cam to cam gear timing. On this part make sure you are looking at the correct marks. And the cam pulley is set on the 4e locating dowl.